nest

a pocketlike, usually more or less circular structure of twigs, grass, mud, etc., formed by a bird, often high in a tree, as a place in which to lay and incubate its eggs and rear its young; any protected place used by a bird for these purposes.

2.

a place used by insects, fishes, turtles, rabbits, etc., for depositing their eggs or young.

3.

a number of birds, insects, animals, etc., inhabiting one such place.

4.

a snug retreat or refuge; resting place; home.

5.

an assemblage of things lying or set close together, as a series of boxes or trays, that fit within each other:

a nest of tables.

6.

a place where something bad is fostered or flourishes:

a nest of vice; a robber's nest.

7.

the occupants or frequenters of such a place.

verb (used with object)

8.

to settle or place (something) in or as if in a nest:

to nest dishes in straw.

9.

to fit or place one within another:

to nest boxes for more compact storage.

verb (used without object)

10.

to build or have a nest:

The swallows nested under the eaves.

11.

to settle in or as if in a nest.

12.

to fit together or within another or one another:

bowls that nest easily for storage.

13.

to search for or collect nests:

to go nesting.

14.

Computers. to place a routine inside another routine that is at a higher hierarchical level.

Used since Middle English in reference to various accumulations of things (e.g. a nest of drawers, early 18c.). Nest egg "retirement savings" is from 1700, originally "a real or artificial egg left in a nest to induce the hen to go on laying there" (c.1600).

v.

Old English nistan "to build nests," from Proto-Germanic *nistijanan, from the source of nest (n.). The modern verb is perhaps a new formation in Middle English from the noun. Related: Nested; nesting.